Overview

This keyboard, usually known as the Bamini layout, is designed for the Tamil language. It is originally based on a Tamil typewriter keyboard, and is used particularly in Sri Lanka. The keyboard is designed for users who are familiar with both this layout and the Tamil script, as consonants and vowels are typed in written order, and is intended for use with a normal QWERTY (English) keyboard.

Most computers will automatically download a special font if needed to display this language correctly.

Using this Keyboard

Keyboard Layout

Quickstart

This keyboard layout is largely based on the Tamil typewriter, with separate keys for consonants, vowels and vowel diacritics. Most of the characters used in Tamil are combinations of consonants and vowels, and these do not appear on the keyboard. Instead, the appropriate vowel diacritic is typed either before or after the consonant, in the same order as it would be written. Note that some diacritics will not be displayed until a consonant is typed.

For example, the standalone vowel இ is entered by typing ,, but in combination with a consonant, the ி diacritic (p key) is usually typed instead, after the consonant, and the consonant-vowel combinant will be displayed. Pressing Backspace once will delete only the vowel component, so the character displayed on the screen will change back to the consonant, and change again if a different diacritic is typed.

Grantha letters, which are used for typing Sanskrit, appear on the keyboard and are treated as normal consonants.

Although Tamil characters are typed using separate keys for consonants and diacritics, the characters that appear on screen will be combinants, which the computer sees as a single character. This means that while two (or more) keystrokes are required to display most consonant-vowel combinants, when you use the arrow keys to move the cursor through the text, only a single keystroke is needed to move past each character. Moving the cursor to the left of a combinant character and pressing Delete will erase the whole character, but if you move the cursor to the right of a combinant and press Backspace, only the vowel component will be erased. This is the case whether the vowel component appears to the left or right of, above or below the consonant.

Vowels and Pulli Marks

In general, characters should be entered with this keyboard in the same order as they would be written on paper. When a vowel or part of a vowel appears before a consonant, it should be typed first. When the vowel component appears above, below or to the right of a consonant, it should be typed after the consonant. The vowel diacritics பெ (n), பே (N) and பை (i) will not be displayed until a consonant is typed (in the preceding examples the consonant ப is shown). The first vowel அ is implicit in the consonants, so typing this vowel after a consonant will display this as a standalone vowel, and not combine it with the consonant.

Long vowel characters are typed either by a combination of [S*] the basic vowel key, or by pressing the vowel key twice.

Because the consonants contain the implicit vowel அ, to produce a pure consonant it is necessary to add the Pulli mark ் by typing a semicolon ; immediately after the consonant. Any vowel diacritic that is typed immediately after typing the Pulli mark will not be combined with the consonant. However, because this keyboard acts in a similar way to a typewriter, it is possible to type a preceding vowel diacritic followed by a consonant and the Pulli mark, or even a standalone vowel followed by the Pulli mark, producing odd combinations such as மெ் or அ். In every case, a consonant-Pulli mark combinant behaves the same way as a consonant-vowel combinant when you use the arrow, Backspace and Delete keys.

The SRii Character

This character is entered by typing ];uP. Currently, some browsers do not display this character correctly. Click here if you are having difficulty entering this character.

Keystroke Examples

The following table gives specific examples of how to input characters based on the consonant க. The Grantha consonants, which are entered with [S*] key combinations, use the same input method. Examples of these with the consonant ஜ are also given below.

Troubleshooting

Using Tamil keyboards with Word 2007

Sometimes when using Word 2007, the Pulli mark ் is not suppressed correctly. For example:

Key sequence

Correct output

Word output

க + அ + க

கக

க்க

க + க + க+ க

க்கக்க

க்க்க்க

The easiest ways to deal with this are to move the cursor and press Backspace to delete the unwanted Pulli mark, or else enable the Text Services Framework Add-In if you are using Keyman Desktop Professional.
Disabling Tamil language editing in Microsoft Office Language Settings will also correct the input behaviour, but this is not recommended, as it makes selection of fonts more difficult.

Fonts

Some of the fonts included with Windows do not include all the Tamil characters that are available with this keyboard. In order to display every character correctly, we recommend you download and install Tamil fonts.

Problem Solving

If the preceding consonant does not change to a vowel-consonant combinant character when you type a vowel, confirm that you have not typed a Pulli mark ், which identifies the consonant as a pure consonant, or the first vowel அ, which identifies the consonant as the implicit-vowel consonant. Typing either of these after a consonant will prevent that consonant from changing to a combinant character.

Other Internet Resources

Technical Information

System Requirements

It is recommended that you use an English QWERTY hardware keyboard with this keyboard.

Unicode Version

This keyboard complies with Unicode 5.2

Authorship

This keyboard was created by Suratha Yarl Vaanan (suratha@hotmail.com), Mugunth (mugunth@gmail.com) and Umar (csd_one@yahoo.com). For more information about keyboards produced by these developers, see http://thamizha.com. Tavultesoft gratefully acknowledges the contribution made by the authors in developing this keyboard and making it freely available for use with Keyman Desktop and KeymanWeb. Their effort assists in enabling people to communicate in their own language. To contact the authors of this keyboard, click here .

Copyright and Terms of Use

The Thamizha Bamuni Keyboard for Keyman Desktop and KeymanWeb is Copyright 2008 thamizha.com and Tavultesoft. It may be freely distributed for non-commercial use, but may not be modified or adapted in any way without permission from the authors.